An unpopular opinion.

My friend texted me this morning with a question.

Should you throw a baby shower for an unmarried woman?

I gave her my opinion, one that I know I’m pretty alone in.

Yes, I think you should.  Because that’s the woman who needs support and love and gifts, because she’s going to be doing this alone.  And regardless of the circumstances, children are a gift from God, and don’t deserve to have a lesser life because of something their parents did wrong.

Then came the kicker.

What if it’s a married man’s baby?  He told her he wasn’t married, but he is, and it’s his baby.

Ouch.

I thought about it, and told her my answer was still the same. 

No, I don’t think you should stand up in front of church and say “hooray, we’re going to celebrate this!”  But that doesn’t mean you abandon her and throw her out on her own. 

Her response hurt my heart.

Try telling my church that.

Jesus came for the sick, you guys.

He came for the sinners.

He came for the broken.

And let’s be honest here:  if this woman had been having sex with a man that she wasn’t married to, realized it was wrong and was sorry, no one would have any problem.  She would be accepted and loved on, and even glorified for her testimony.  But because that resulted in a pregnancy, she’s an outcast.  A sinner.  Unredeemable.  When really, she did the same thing, merely the result was different.

Why is that?  Because sometimes, some of us get churchy.

And we put our churchy pants on.

And we don’t care about the sin.

We care about the appearance.

This isn’t about a baby shower. 

I hope that women of God will rally around this woman and her child and encourage her.

I hope they will pray for her and offer her friendship and assistance.

But this is about more than that.

This is about the fact that we seem to have forgotten that Jesus came for the sick.

We’re more comfortable sitting in church and organizing events and taking missions trips than we are with getting involved with people who are living messed up lives.

It’s easier to go to another country where people have never heard about Jesus and love on them than it is to reach out to people who have heard about Jesus and are living opposite of that.  It’s harder to love on them.

It's harder to love on the promiscuous girl. 

It's harder to love on the gay guy. 

It's harder to love on the intelligent atheist. 

It's harder to love on the one who knows about Jesus, but chooses to live a lifestyle of partying and destruction instead. 

It's easier to politely forget about them. 

To turn our head and cary on with our church business and just leave them alone. 

Sin is messy.

It is ugly.

It is not pristine and clean.

That’s why Jesus had to come.

And, hello, if you’re confused about how to reach out to people living in sin, take a look at Jesus’ life and how He lived it.

After all, we’re supposed to be following that example, are we not?

Or have we sacrificed that too, for the sake of a pristine appearance?

When was the last time you befriended someone living in sin?

And just rolled up your sleeves and wallowed through the mud with them?

When did you last grab on to them and promise to not let go, no matter what?

No matter how messy it got

No matter what other people thought

No matter how it made you look

No matter how frustrating it got

Until you had shown them the unconditional love of Jesus that was so graciously given to you?

That, my friends, is what it’s all about.